Entryway Spruce-Up

My entryway has been kind of boring for a long time. I LOVE my little bench there, but my art was a little blah. I loved my house-rule art, but its frame and mat were looking a little dated (I bought it back in 2001, so it was definitely rocking that late 90s style).

I redid the other area in the entryway some time ago, and loved the bright colors, so I thought I'd do something similar in this corner to spruce things up a bit.

I've got my insta-frame there.  :)  

I gathered all sorts of frames for my eclectic little wall, mostly ones I already had, and painted them either yellow, green, or turquoise.  My house-rules sign (all close-ups of which came out blurry and I'm too lazy to reshoot :) was rematted and painted green.  I like the crisp white mat WAY better than the marbled 90s forest green there previously.  

 

Plus, I finally had a great place to put all my great family portraits from the last few years.   

 

I love my new frame collage.  It makes me smile every time I see it. 

Insta-frame

I don't know about you, but I'm totally addicted to Instagram.  I use it all the time.  It's a lot of fun.  I take so many great pictures with it that I want displayed.  So, I came up with a great way to display them.   

I've seen places out there that will print your instagram pics for you.  But, I'm cheap.  :)  I just use Picasa to print them on my home printer.  I upload my pictures from my camera roll on my phone to my computer, and since I use Picasa to organize all my pictures, I just tell it which ones to print.  I chose wallet-size, and selected shrink-to-fit.  I printed them onto cardstock, then cut them out with my paper trimmer.  

To display them, I found an old 11x16 frame I had laying around and painted it.  I'd planned to turn it into a bulletin board, but my cork wouldn't stay flat, so I kept the glass in the frame, with the cork as a background.  Then, I just used washi tape to tape my pictures to the glass.  Easy, cute, and simple.  Exactly the way I like it.
  

 

And, it couldn't be easier to change out my pictures when I feel like it.  I love getting to see all my happy little pictures every time I walk past!

Quote Boards

I've mentioned before that I LOVE pinning pretty (both in word and design) quotes to my Pinterest. Well, I got tired of only getting to see them on Pinterest. But, who has enough space for all the cute printables out there? I sure don't. So, I made a place to display whichever ones I'm in the mood for on any given day.

Normally, I'd frame them, but it's not super convenient to pry off the back of a frame, position it just right, and put it all back together.  I mean, it's not super hard either, but I wanted a space where I could quick-as-a-wink switch out printables.  So, I made some quote bulletin-boards.

I bought some cork at the craft store, traced the glass from the frame as a pattern, and cut out the cork.  Then, I put it in the frame.  Pretty simple.  I used frames I already had, spray painting them to update them a bit.  Plus, the space needed some color so it wasn't just black and white.

Now I have cute decor in my front entry and I get to see inspiring quotes all day long.  If you'd like the same ones in your house, you can download them here:

You Matter Quote, by Reliving the Moments
Charity Quote, by Simply Fresh Designs
Have I Done Any Good Quote, by Me  :)

Entry Table: Before and After

I have been looking for a table for my front entry since we moved into this house...7 years ago.  Until I could find something, I just put a family portrait on the wall and left it like that.  But, the space felt empty.  And, every Halloween I especially wished I had a table there to sit the candy bowl on.

I just couldn't find anything that fit all of my qualifications. It had to be inexpensive, fit the space, and be something I liked. I started scoping out local thrift stores for such a table (though I started to be resigned to maybe having a chest of drawers there at one point). Finally, I found it. It was about $40, fit my measurements, and was cute (underneath the iffy paint).

I especially liked the scallops.  But I didn't so much like it's 90s paint job, even if the details were in my favorite colors, yellow and green.  It was too fussy, too dated.

So, I took some spray paint to it.  I covered it, first, with white primer, and then white glossy spray paint.  And here's the after:

I added a big IKEA frame and a beautiful new family portrait, a funky Target Lamp, and I made some "quote boards," which is a post for another time.  :)

It really livens up the space.  I totally love it.

Kitchen Mini-makeover

I used to have plaid curtains in my kitchen and family room. I never really liked them, but they were the right colors, so I decided they'd work until I found something I liked better. Well, I finally did.  Jo-Ann had a sale on home decorator fabric a while back, and I found a fabric I really liked --and got 70% off--so I decided to redo my curtains.  I used the old curtains as a pattern to make the new ones:

I also recovered the valances over the patio door and in the family room (and recovered the pillows that had formerly been made with the leftover plaid fabric).

I also had been looking for something cute for over the doorway for the last 5 and a half years.  I got these cute plates from Target for Christmas and thought they'd look great there. 

When I first decorated, my house looked a little more country than I wanted, so I've been trying to give it more of a modern-vintage sort of vibe.  I exchanged a "mom's diner" distressed red-painted wooden clock with this retro-style one.  I also got a cute yellow timer of a similar style for Christmas that's now on the fridge. 

The bird plates are new, too.  Aren't they adorable?  I went looking for some new plates for over my sink, since the new bolder red in the curtains made the red in the plates (that had matched the red in the plaid) now look more pink.  I found these cute bird plates at Pier 1, but was sad that they didn't fit in the plate rack over the sink (too small).  I couldn't get rid of them, though, (they were just too cute!) so I hung them over the pantry door instead. 

I feel a little sheepish that my kitchen and family room have so many plates displayed.  I didn't set out to decorate with plates, but I was given the plate rack above the sink and I found a lot of cute plates while setting out to fill it up.  Plates are cheap, and if they look cute, why not decorate with them, right?

So, it's not a drastic change to my kitchen, just a bunch of little ones.  But, I feel like it helps de-countrify my decor.  It's got a little more of my personality in it now.  :)

Bathroom Mini-makeover

My bathroom is a bit boring.  It has beige walls, white and brass fixtures, and beige carpet (yes...carpet).  When we moved in, we didn't want to bother with painting, so the walls have stayed beige.  (And we didn't have the resources to redo the flooring--though I'd like to one day.  Carpet in a bathroom is not my favorite.)

I tried to bring in some color with towels and things, and for the last 4 1/2 years, it's worked fine.  But, it was starting to get to me, all that beige.  I still didn't want to paint, but I needed some more color.  So, I made a valance for the window.

Before:

After:

I used a very pretty purple sheet I found at Walmart and some coordinating ribbon to make my simple valance.  I'd planned a different style (where ribbons tie it up--I don't know what it's called), but simple looked better.  I also bought an inexpensive storage cupboard.  We'd had a trash can in the spot between the tub and the sink for awhile, just to put something there.  The nicer storage cupboards were too wide to fit in that spot, but the Target ReStyle ones do. 

So, now the open towel storage brings in a bit more color, and I have more room in my linen closet now that I'm storing some towels in the bathroom instead of the linen closet!  I'm liking my mini-makeover.  It makes my bathroom a bit less boring.  :)